Chapter 31 Reyna
REYNA
My heart lurches into my throat. I swallow down a scream. My elbow soars back into his ribs. He hisses and tightens his grip on me, pressing me flat against his chest directly behind the curtain.
“Remember how good you can be at following instructions?” Maddox whispers against my ear. “How about you do that again, huh, love?”
Betrayal crashes through me, hot and painful.
First, I found out he was engaged. Now, I have irrefutable confirmation that he’s connected to my dead father, and I was too busy being a lovesick puppy to see it clearly.
He’s lucky I’m not tasing him. I thrash against him, careful to keep as quiet as possible. My nails sink into his arms, and raw satisfaction flows through me at the sound of his strained grunt.
Maddox’s arm is covered in the same black cloak as the people inside, and that fact feels like another slap.
He pulls me harder against him, and my traitorous body forces me to suppress a shiver. He still smells heavenly, and it fucking hurts. I can’t give him a piece of my mind with his hand clamped over my mouth. So without second-guessing, I clamp my teeth down on his finger. I need him to hurt too.
This time, his grunt is less than lusty, but the way his other hand grasps at my clothes is making my heart send mixed signals to my frightened, rage-filled mind.
At this angle, I can peek between the gap of the curtain and see the congregation of people in the beehive room. The sounds of soft murmurings and the clink of utensils are growing louder.
“Reyna, calm down. I’m going to let go of you. It’s in your best interest not to scream for help, because no one here will rescue you,” Maddox says, voice low.
I pale. What would his people do to me if they caught me here?
“Nod once if you understand.”
A tremor goes down my spine from the way the low cadence of his voice caresses the side of my face. I want to turn around to look at him, but I’m scared of meeting his eyes. It’ll remind me of everything he said.
I nod, my knuckles bleaching around the taser, letting its solid shape ground me.
Maddox slowly lifts his hand from my mouth, keeping his other firmly wrapped around me. I hate how nice his arms feel, and how I want to close my eyes and bury my face into his chest to breathe him in.
“You need to leave. It isn’t safe.”
My anger spikes. I whirl on him so we’re chest to chest. He grips my chin to stop me from saying anything, and I slap his hand away, ignoring how his eyes harden.
“If you think I’m dangerous, then there’s a whole room of people who will kill you without being asked twice.”
My heart sinks. People—organizations—don’t keep thousands of human bones in a catacomb if they’re innocent.
Maddox tilts his head. “Who do you trust? The devil you know or the devil you don’t?”
I have two options: run or double down. After how far I’ve come, there’s only one right answer.
“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.” I curl my fists so he doesn’t see them tremble. “You have information about someone I care about, and you’re going to tell me.”
He falters at my confession. This isn’t the right place or the right time, but if I let Maddox go, who’s to say he’s ever going to tell me anything.
Shaking his head, he says adamantly, “No. You need to leave.”
“Tell me first,” I repeat.
His lips curl. “This isn’t a game, Reyna. These people are dangerous. They’re who I kill for. Leave. Now.”
For one horrific second, I wonder if Maddox might have something to do with Dad’s death.
“Tell. Me.” I demand.
He edges away. “I’ll go out first so no one sees you.”
I grab a fistful of his cloak so he knows that I’m serious, but I almost lose my train of thought when my hand brushes his chest. “Start talking, or I start screaming.” I’m lying through my teeth. If he doesn’t want me dead, then he needs to give me what I want.
Our eyes narrow simultaneously, and we stare at each other, neither of us willing to back down. He has answers I want. I’m not owed them, nor do I deserve them, but they’re mine to learn, one way or another.
Maddox must see the determination written over my face, because he breaks the silence first, just as another round of applause sounds from the other room.
“We’ll get you out of here. Then I’ll answer some of your questions.”
That’s not good enough. “We go together, and you tell me everything I want to know, or I’m not going anywhere.”
“Not happening,” he says with an arrogance that no longer surprises me.
“If I try hard enough, I’m sure I can sneak back in here.” That’s the only thing that’s going to happen if I can’t find out what I want to know through him.
We still when the door opens. Someone stumbles out, sputtering a cough.
Maddox wraps his arm around me, tucks me against him, and pivots to shield me from the person walking by.
I grip the thick fabric of his robe with clammy hands as he rubs circles over my back that bring me very little assurance that we won’t get found out.
But if I really think about it, that’s not the reason I’m grasping on to him. I’m just not sure if the tears beading along my lash line are from fear, exhaustion, or the grief of losing him too.
Maddox curves his finger beneath my chin to tip my head up to face him.
His heavy breaths mix with mine as I stare up at him, draped in shadows.
Darkness dips beneath his jaw and curves around his mouth, highlighting his soft lips.
This close, there’s no mistaking the hollows around his eyes that tell a story of weeks of sleepless nights.
The pesky little butterflies in my stomach are under a misguided belief that he’s tortured because he misses me, and that only makes me sadder.
We’re in this limbo where he tells me he doesn’t want me, yet looks at me like I’m the only thing that matters to him. I’ll never mend my broken heart if he keeps coming back to break it, and looking up at him, I’m reminded of the fantasy I fooled myself into believing could be a reality.
“Fine,” he breathes out reluctantly once the person enters one of the other rooms, breaking the spell.
My breath rushes out, and I nod, looking away so he doesn’t see the tear fall.
Neither of us exchange another word as he grabs my hand and guides me back through the study and the catacombs, then out into the open.
I should snatch my hand away, but it stays right where it is. In his, where it’s warm.
There’s a whole other universe right beneath my feet—one that my dad was a part of. Holding Maddox’s hand seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. So I let myself have this stolen moment.
A car pulls up in front of us, and he opens the door for me. I don’t know where it came from or when Maddox might have ordered it. Whether out of blind faith or pure stupidity, I go in, missing his touch the instant he releases me.
“Where are we going?” My voice is hoarse. I can feel my body slowly giving out on me.
“To my safe house.”
I frown. “Why?”
The way Maddox glances tensely out the windows sets me on edge. “If someone saw you, would you prefer to lead them to your place?”
A tremor works down my arms. Just because I made it out doesn’t mean tomorrow is guaranteed.
I watch Maddox out of the corner of my eye. He’s running his hand through his hair, and glaring out of the window. I haven’t decided if I regret my decision to go down there since I’ve now dragged Maddox into my mess, and he of all people is concerned.
There’s solace in knowing that despite everything that’s unfolded between us, I know he’s not going to let me get hurt. I truly believe he meant it when he said he’d give me answers.
My pulse races at the thought of getting closure after a year of feeling like a failure day after day because I still wasn’t any closer to knowing the man my mother loved. I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t scared to learn about what my father was involved in. Nothing good, I’d imagine.
I’m functioning on autopilot, letting Maddox take me from a car, to the subway, to a cab, then back on a subway until we reach an unassuming apartment complex. I stop myself at the last second from taking Maddox’s offered hand, and wrap my arms around myself to avoid the temptation to touch him.
My lungs stutter when he places his palm at the base of my spine like he needs the contact more than I do.
I step out of his reach. My anger spikes at his hurt expression. He doesn’t get to be upset. I was the one who wanted to make this work, and he’s the one who chose to blow up. He made the bed. He can lie in it.
If Maddox tells me what I want to know, then we can go back to being strangers. He doesn’t have to make this any harder than it needs to be.
Padding behind him up to the apartment, I watch him enter the code for the front door: 26474. It feels important that he’s letting me see it. Hope, the most treacherous emotion of them all, blossoms in my chest. Shaking my head, I focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
I couldn’t have imagined Maddox owning a place in this building.
The floorboards are uneven, there are cobwebs in every corner, and the occasional rung is missing from the banister.
The most shocking part is that Maddox would buy property inside a building with a mix-match of warm- and cool-toned paint.
The tiny traitorous voice is still singing in my head, and my stomach swoops with misplaced glee. He’s showing me more of himself.
I mutter my thanks when he stands back to let me inside his apartment first. When the light switches on, an odd feeling settles in my chest. It looks so… normal.
“I come here after a kill,” Maddox explains as if sensing my thoughts. “Or to get away. It’s my favorite one in this city.”
I’m not sure what surprises me more. That he has more than one safe house or that he’s divulging additional information without being prompted.
Saying nothing, I leave my shoes by the door to continue my perusal of his space as he busies himself in the kitchen.